Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-12-29 Monday

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Headlines for December 29, 2025; What’s Behind Trump’s Christmas Strikes on Nigeria? Anti-Christian Genocide or Appeasing MAGA Base?; “Witch Hunt”: Jailed U.K. Palestine Action Activists Continue Hunger Strike Despite Health Risks; Cover-Up? New HBO Film Examines 2010 Immigrant Death Under Trump’s Current Border Commissioner

From New York, this is democracy now. They said hit him on Christmas Day. It'll be a Christmas present. The U.S. strikes Nigeria on Christmas Day, as President Trump falsely claims A Christian genocide is taking place in Nigeria. We'll get the latest. Then UN experts are raising grave concern over treatment of Palestine action-linked hunger strikers in the UK. We'll speak with Francesca Naden, spokesperson for prisoners for Palestine.

She herself faces charges over protests against Barclays and J.P. Morgan for investing in Israel's biggest weapons. There are eight people in prison around the country in Britain right now on a collective hunger strike. They have five demands related to justice for themselves for freedom, for the right to a fair trial, to shut down the arms factories that are operating in this country for the liberation of Palestine. They are locked up without a trial or a conviction and they have no way to get justice for themselves. Then as CBS cancels a 60-minute segment on U.S. deportations, an HBO documentary is premiering today called Critical Incident, Death at the Border. It looks at the alleged cover-up of the murder of an undocumented Mexican immigrant who died in custody at the border years ago under the watch of a man who's now head of Customs and Border Patrol under President Trump. Somebody was on life support of Mr. Anastacio Hernandez.

Normally, in a regular homicide investigation, usually there's a briefing that occurs right after the event. Once they know that the death has occurred or death is imminent, then the homicide unit will come out. But in this case, the Border Patrol didn't tell us about it. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. launched air strikes in Nigeria Thursday, Christmas Day, claiming it hit two ISIS camps in Dakota State. The Nigerian foreign ministry acknowledged cooperation with the U.S., including sharing intelligence. Speaking to W.A.B.C., President Trump cast the strikes as a Christmas present.

They said, hit him on Christmas Day. It'll be a Christmas present. We hit ISIS who have terrible. They're butchers. The strikes came after President Trump repeatedly claimed a genocide against Christians is taking place in Nigeria. But the village that was bombed, Jabo, in northwestern Sakoto State, has no recorded history of anti-Christian terrorism, according to locals. Meanwhile, Nigeria's information ministers said, quote, portraying Nigeria's security challenges as a targeted campaign against a single

religious group is a gross misrepresentation of reality. It comes as a suicide bomber detonated an explosive inside a mosque in Nigeria's Borno State Christmas Day, killing five worshippers and injuring 2035. Jennifer Kavanaugh, a director of military analysis at defense priorities, said, quote, The U.S. action taken in Nigeria while Americans celebrated the Christmas holiday as an unnecessary and unjustified use of U.S. military force that violates Mr. Trump's promises to his supporters to put American interests first and avoid risky and wasteful military campaigns abroad, unquote. This is Moromoke Saka, whose home was damaged in the airstrikes.

I could have been killed by now if the wall of the house. that broke had collapsed on me. Praise to God Almighty, I survived. Meanwhile, the U.S. Africa Command confirmed airstrikes against ISIS targets in Somalia over four days from the 22nd Christmas Day. We'll have more on U.S. air strikes in the region later in the broadcast. President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky met at Marlago Sunday, where President Trump announced Russia and Ukraine are, quote, may be very close to a peace Ahead of the meeting, Russia launched a barrage of drone strikes on Kiev Saturday in a 10-hour attack, killing two people and injuring 44. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were left without heat

as a result of the strikes. Speaking to reporters, Zelensky said the U.S. had offered a security guarantee for 15 years while he'd asked for up to 50 years. Ahead of his meeting with Zelensky, President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone. They're going to be helping. Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange, but I was explaining to the president. President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices.

In Gaza, a winter storm's, pounded the misery of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in tents after Israel's more than two-year bombardment, destroyed or damaged, most of the territory's buildings. On Sunday, a 30-year-old woman was killed when a wall collapsed on her tent amidst heavy rains. Several members of her family were injured. Others faced severe flooding, frigid temperatures, and wind and rain that blew away tents. This is where Al-Ashek Khalil displaced Palestinian in Khan Yunus. People hate the winter now.

They used to say during the summer that the tent is very hot, but the heat is better than the cold winter. During the summer, you can go out and take off your clothes, roll up your sleeves, and walk away. But now there's no way. The covers and mattresses are all soaked in water. There is nothing to warm yourself up with. UN and Palestinian officials estimate at least 300,000 new

are urgently needed for about one and a half million Palestinians still displaced by Israel's assault as Israel continues to block the import of shelters and other aid. Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials suspended services at Gaza's Alla the hospital on Thursday due to a shortage of fuel. It came as human rights groups marked one year since Israeli forces seized, Dr. Hassam Abu Safia from the Kamel Adwan Hospital in Gaza. where he's served as director. He's been held by Israel without trial ever since. Advocates say Dr. Abusafia's health has deteriorated while he's faced cruel and inhumane treatment in prison. He's among more than

430 health workers abducted by Israel from Gaza and the West Bank since October 2023. In northern Israel, at least two people were killed when a Palestinian man launched a car ramming and stabbing attack in the city of Afula on Friday. Israel's military said in response, it's demolishing the home of the attacker and is launching raids across the town of Kapitia in the occupied West Bank. The attack came a day after an Israeli army reservist in civilian clothes was caught on video, ramming his vehicle into a Palestinian man who is praying peacefully on the side of the road. The reservist had been caught on camera earlier that day.

a rifle at residence of Dear Girard. Israel's military said in response it had suspended the man's status as a reservist and released him to five days of house arrest. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Florida for his meeting with President Trump at Mara Lago. Flight tracking data shows Netanyahu's aircraft cross Greek, Italian, and French airspace en route to the U.S. all three nations. are signatories to the Rome Statute, which oblige them to arrest Netanyahu, who has an outstanding arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

NBC News reports Netanyahu is prepared to brief Trump about Israel's plans to attack Iran again, citing repairs to its nuclear program following U.S. and Israeli strikes earlier this year. Meanwhile, Israel Friday became the first and only nation to recognize the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland as a sovereign state, a move that was met with criticism from U.N. member nations who pointed to Israel's continued unwillingness to recognize a Palestinian state. In Sudan, the United Nations warns renewed violence in the country's western and southern regions has displaced more than 10,000 people in just three days, amidst intense fighting between the Army and its paramilitary rival, the rapid support forces. The latest violence has uprooted thousands of people near Sudan's western border with Chad and in Sudan's famine-stricken state of South Kordofan.

Burma's military rulers held the first round of election Sunday since toppling a democratically elected government in 2021. Only about a third of eligible voters cast ballots an initial phase of the election, which will entirely exclude people in dozens of townships not under the control of Burma's military. Ahead of the election, Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma, wrote, quote, an election organized by a junta that continues to bomb civilians, jail, political leaders, and criminalize all forms of dissent, not an election. It's a theater of the absurd performed at gunpoint, he said. The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia met in Beijing today, days after they signed

a new ceasefire agreement and weeks of fighting along their border. The conflict has killed more than 100 people and displaced over half a million in both countries. A statement from the Chinese foreign minister reads, quote, China stands ready to continue to provide the platform and create conditions for Cambodia and Thailand to have fuller and more detailed communication, unquote. Earlier, President Trump claimed the U.S., quote, has become the real United Nations, unquote, boasting about a July ceasefire that later broke down. The British Egyptian activist, long-time political prisoner,

al-A. Abdel Fata, has arrived in the United Kingdom after Egypt lifted a travel ban on him. In a statement, Al-Fata said he would soon be reunited with his 14-year-old son Khalid. The writer and political dissident was a leading voice in the 2011 Arab Spring protests that toppled the Mubarak dictatorship. He's been repeatedly targeted by the current authoritarian government of President Abdul Fath al-Sisi. Most recently, he was sentenced to five years in prison for a Facebook post. He's now pushing back against conservative and far-right British politicians who've called for his citizenship to be revoked to enable his swift removal from the U.K. over his past social media posts. On Sunday, Allah apologized unequivocally for past posts that are genuinely offensive, he said, while saying other posts are being deliberately distorted and weaponized against him. A Virginia man has confessed to placing two pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., the night before the January 6th, 2021 insurrection.

Brian Cole Jr. was arrested earlier this month in charge with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials. According to court papers, Cole told the FBI, quote, something just snapped after watching everything, just everything getting worse, he said. He also said he felt like he needed to, quote, speak up, alleging the 2020 election had been, quote, tampered with, unquote. Former federal prosecutors have warned Brian Cole Jr.'s defense might argue that President Trump's broad pardons of January 6 rioters could cover any crimes, Cole Jr., committed. President Trump has complained about the Justice Department's release of one million more files related to the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. On truth social, Trump said, in part, quote, now one million more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat-inspired hoax. When do they say no more and work on election fraud?

etc, Trump said. Meanwhile, Republican Congress member Thomas Massey, co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is criticizing the DOJ's release of the Epstein Files, writing on social media, quote, Attorney General Pam Bondi's most egregious violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act is not that she ignores the deadline. It's that she's redacting names of accused sex offenders and internal communications about decisions wrongly citing old rules that are overridden by new law, Massey said. This comes as Julie Brown, journalist at the Miami Herald, whose reporting led to the arrest of Epstein and his co-conspirator Gilane Maxwell, said on social media, quote,

does somebody at the DOJ want to tell me why my American Airlines booking information and flights in July of 2019 are part of the Epstein files attached to a grand jury subpoena. As the flight itinerary includes my maiden name and I did book this flight, why was the DOJ monitoring me, Julie Brown, the journalist asked. The Lumby tribe of North Carolina has secured recognition from the federal government more than 137 years since at first petition Congress for recognition. President Trump formalized the move Thursday when he signed the Lombie Fairness Act as part of the $901 billion military spending bill. The Lombie tribe is now the largest east of the Mississippi River with nearly 60,000 members.

They'll now have access to federal resources from the BIA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including support for education, housing, and health care. And the acclaimed Palestinian actor and filmmaker Muhammad Bakri has died at 72 in northern Israel on Christmas Eve. He appeared in more than 40 films and directed documentaries highlighting the experience of Palestinians living under occupation. It was best known for his 2002 documentary Janine Janine, featuring the voices of Palestinians in the Janine refugee Kemp following a devastating military operation that killed 52 Palestinians. In 2007, Bakri spoke to Democracy Now about interviewing survivors of the Janine massacre. They wanted to tell their stories because they were still in shock.

When I came in Janine, I was shocked with what I saw. I couldn't think. I couldn't feel. I was really just humiliated as a human being, not as a Palestinian. and not as a director, not as an act, just as a human. How come people can do such things like that in the camp? And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman. We begin today's show in Nigeria, where fear is paralyzed a farming village in northwestern Sukoto state after a series of U.S. military strikes on Christmas Day, which President Trump claimed targeted two ISIS camps in the region. But residents of Jabo, predominantly Muslim communities, say there's no recorded history of anti-Christian terrorism in the town. Bashar Isad Jabo, a lawmaker representing Tambual in the Sokato State Parliament, described Jabo as, quote, a peaceful community saying in an interview with CNN that the town is, quote, no history of ISIS, Lakurawa or any other terrorist groups operating in the area, unquote.

The strikes carried out by the U.S. in collaboration with Nigeria's government come as Trump has repeatedly falsely claimed a Christian genocide is taking place in Nigeria. In a post-untruth social last month, Trump wrote in part, quote, The USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance Nigeria and may very well go into that now, disgrace country, guns ablazing, Trump wrote. Organizations monitoring violence in the region say there's no evidence to suggest Christians are killed more than Muslims and other religious groups in Nigeria. President Trump touted the Christmas Day strikes in a call into W.A.B.C. They said, hit him on Christmas Day. It'll be a Christmas present. We hit ISIS who are terrible. They're butchers.

Nigeria's information minister said, quote, portraying Nigeria's security. challenges as a targeted campaign against a single religious group is a gross misrepresentation of reality, unquote. This all comes as a suicide bomber, detonated an explosive inside a mosque in Nigeria's Borno State Christmas Day, killing five worshippers and injuring 35. Jennifer Kavanaugh, a director of military analysis at defense priorities, said, quote, the U.S. action taken in Nigeria, while Americans celebrated the Christmas holiday, an unnecessary and unjustified use of U.S. military force that violates Mr. Trump's promises

to his supporters to put American interests first and avoid risky and wasteful military campaigns abroad. Meanwhile, the U.S. Africa Command confirmed strikes on Somalia, which took place over the course of four days from December 22nd Christmas Day. For more, we're joined by Yinka Adagoke, Africa editor for Semaphore, an independent news platform. He was the founding editor, of Courts, Africa. Thanks so much for being with us, Yenka. If you can talk about what President Trump said, said this was a Christmas gift.

Explain what's going on in Nigeria, with so many saying, including the foreign minister of Nigeria, that there is not a campaign, a genocide against Christians, that as many or more Muslims are dying as Christians. Right. Yeah, no, you're very right. This has been, Nigeria has a very serious problem of insecurity that affects a wide range of Nigerians,

especially those who live in the more remote parts of the country, which tend to be in the north. And the north of Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. and therefore when these insecurity problems happen for a variety of reasons, and we can get into some of those, they tend to impact Muslims more so than Christians. But over the years, of course Christians have also been attacked. Some churches have been attacked, just as mosques have been attacked, because obviously churches and mosques tend to be fairly vulnerable and easy targets.

But there was almost a sort of a callous. as to the way President Trump referred to a Christmas present, when, you know, their real lives are stakes here. People have been killed. People are living really insecure lives, and it's not just because they're Christians or because they are Muslims. It's because there's a general problem of insecurity in this region, often fueled by, frankly, just poverty.

Lots of young people without work to do. are easily engaged in these kinds of, you know, violent acts in order to survive, frankly. But, you know, it's, the thing that is overall that is really problematic about what President Trump is doing here is that you have a country that definitely does have a problem, and in fact, maybe some of these strikes will have a short-term impact, but they don't really really, addressed this sort of underlying problems. And it feels like, you know, the U.S. is almost exporting its own sort of culture walls about, you know, the kinds of things that evangelical Christians have pushed for a long time about Christians being

persecuted around the world and sort of, you know, projecting this onto Nigeria. And to what extent do you think this is to appease them, Christian evangelicals, who've not only been talking about this in Nigeria, but in other places as well. Yes. Nigeria, what, evenly divided between Christians and Muslims, Yinka? Yes, correct. Correct, correct. Evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

And it really does feel like this is more so, if you use his term of Christmas present, it felt more like a Christmas present for the evangelicals, you know, part of his constituency, that his base, as we say, right? more so than the actual Christians in Nigeria, not something that the people over there, listen, there are real concerns about insecurity there. So I really want us to be careful not to make it seem like, you know, Christians have not been attacked. It is of concern, but it's not like they have been targeted simply because they are Christians, which is a, you know, a nuance that is important to understand.

Can I ask you, though most people would say, how could this possibly be related? What impact did USAID cuts have on different parts of Nigeria? I think that's such a fantastic question because I think this is the thing that, you know, everyday Americans do not sort of appreciate the work that that America has done for decades with USAID had kind of kept a lot of these things on the you know, prevented them from spinning out of control

you know, because really at the core of many of the problems you see around in places like Northern Nigeria but not just North Nigeria, many other African countries unfortunately as well it's a real problem of development and a real lack of of support for their development in certain regions of certain countries.

And northern Nigeria is a classic example where, you know, if you're in somewhere like Lagos or Abuja or somewhere like that, you know, you would, even as a visitor, you would not expect USAID to be, to have much of a role there. But in these parts, these remote areas where there's climate change, where there's competition for resources as, you know, people look for farmland, which leads to some of these conflicts that end up targeting farmers who happen to be Christians. You know, they're real issues here, which agencies like USAID and many other sort of NGOs and charities and organizations from, you know, both the local, domestic ones and international ones, have played a really

effective role in helping, you know, everything from humanitarian efforts to health and other sort of development aid has been really important. And I think there's just a feeling these days that has been spread that, you know, the only way to work with these developing countries is to see what we can get out of them, right? Rather than understand that actually, you know, these development agencies have a really important role beyond just a sort of, you know, an investment and profit kind of approach. So here you have President Trump saying there's a Christian genocide in Nigeria. But the Trump administration has denied entry for Nigerian refugees as well as virtually every other refugee group, with the exception of white South Africa.

A total of 19 countries are now banned from all immigrant visas and all tourist student exchange visitor visas, including Nigeria, from the American Immigration Council. So they are allowing in white South Africans, they say, because white Christian South Africans are targeted, but not allowing in, even though they bomb Nigeria, black Nigerian Christians. Yeah, I mean, it goes back to that point, that earlier point, right, about the sort of the exporting of the, you know, American culture wars, right? Like this idea of they're killing Christians, let's go, there's a Christian genocide, or there's a white genocide in South Africa. Neither of these things have been, you know, by every sort of export, anyone who pays attention to the details, no one believes this has said this is true, right? But it's just let's say the thing that keeps our base happy and export these sort of concerns. Meanwhile, it creates all sorts of, you know, terrible outcomes in the long term, right? The relationship between the United States and South Africa, you know, the long,

United States, you know, in the end came around to being one of the great supporters of the early days of democracy in South Africa. And now it sees itself at loggerheads with the ANC. And you look at Nigeria, you know, the largest African population, you know, and they're just a country which is, you know, exported all kinds of, you know, imported people and great talent to America as well. And suddenly you're saying no students, no student visas, no tourist visas, a real kind of change. and it's not really clear that this is how this benefits America in the short or even the long term other than to keep a certain sort of ideology sort of satisfied, if you like. Ian Gadigoke, I want to thank you for being with us and also want to note, you know, the U.S. is attacking these Venezuelan boats. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves.

And then you have Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa. We'll talk more about those connections in the days to come. Yinka Ategoque, Africa editor of Semaphore, an independent news platform, was the founding editor of Quartz, Africa. Thanks so much for being with us. When we come back, U.N. experts are raising grave concern over treatment of Palestine action-linked hunger strikers in the U.K. We'll go to the U.K. for an update. You know, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh.

This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren. Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. UN experts are raising grave concern over the treatment and fragile health of a group of Palestine action political prisoners who've been on hunger strike protesting their detention in Britain. The aid activists remain jailed as they await trial over charges related to their work with Palestine action, which was banned by the British government under its Terrorism Act. The UN experts, including Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian territories, said in a statement, the hunger strikers are at risk of organ

failure and death. They wrote, quote, authorities must ensure timely access to a emergency and hospital care, when clinically indicated, refrain from actions that may amount to pressure or retaliation and respect medical ethics, unquote. Several of the activists began their hunger strike in early November. On Sunday, Democracy Now spoke to James Smith, Dr. James Smith, a medical doctor supporting the hunger strikers who's volunteered in Gaza during Israel's assault. Three of the four who have continued with their hunger strike have now been on hunger strike for more than 50 days. They are well into a critical stage wherein they may experience sudden or very rapid decline in their physical health and are at increasing risk of death.

And that risk increases with every passing day. As a healthcare worker who's been supporting the hunger strikers who's in regular, contact with their next of kin. This is an extremely critical moment. And frankly speaking, it defies comprehension that members of the government have refused even to meet with the hunger strikers in an attempt to resolve this situation. As a healthcare worker and someone who has worked in Gaza during the course of the genocide, I'm of course invested in their demands, all of their demands, but I'm particularly concerned about their access to comprehensive and quality healthcare as the hunger strike progresses, and the extent to which the state

and its various appendages respect and uphold their rights to healthcare and their rights to dignity. The situation now is beyond critical, particularly concerning is that hunger strikers have been shackled. In one instance, cuffed wrist to wrist and shackled to a prison guard while receiving treatment in hospital. The treatment of some of the hunger strikers in hospital has been such that on more than one occasion, hunger strikers, when they have complained of severe symptoms, have said that they don't want to be transferred to hospital and that they would rather stay in prison. This is an indictment of the healthcare services that are being offered to these individuals. That was emergency medical doctor James Smith. This all comes as Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago today amidst the fragile U.S. brokered truce with Hamas that Israel's repeatedly violated since it went into effect October 10th. For more, we go to Leeds, England, where we're joined by Francesca Naden, a spokesperson for prisoners for Palestine, which is supporting the Palestine Action Prisoners on Hunger Strike. Last year, Francesca was arrested in charge with, quote, conspiracy to commit criminal damage, unquote, against two Leeds banks, Barclays and J.P. Morgan. Both banks invest in Israel's biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems. Francesca Naden was imprisoned from July 24 to last March, then released with an electronic monitoring curfew tag.

Thanks so much for being with us, Francesca. If you can explain exactly what's happening for people who are not familiar with this hunger strike, how many people are imprisoned with Palestine action on what grounds and talk about their condition in prison right now? thank you for having me it's great to be here so for people that aren't familiar with this there are dozens of people in prison right

now as a result of alleged actions either with Palestine action or other groups that take action against the arms companies that are operating in this country so we are seeing now the process as the punishment people being locked up for indefinite periods of time

without even a conviction or a trial in these cases usually people would get bail but not only this is not happening without really any justification but they're now also being accused of being terrorist and treated as such and this was

before most of them were put in prison before Palestine action was even banned so it's a kind of it was the first step in a kind of coordinated witch hunt that reflects the wider repression of the pro-Palestine movement not just here, but around the world.

So I know it's happening over there in the US as well. So after exhausting all these legal avenues, and we can see that the system is rigged, there's been a lot of dodgy dealings going on behind the scenes. It's quite clear to us that there's political interference going on in all of these cases. The people that have taken part in this hunger strike feel like they have no other choice left to them,

but to take this into their own hands, the only way they have left of, resisting against this persecution is to go on hunger strike. Nobody wants to go on hunger strike. It's a really drastic, really dangerous thing to do, as James said, but they are very determined. They're very sure of what they're doing because they know that this is how they can get justice for themselves and how they can motivate people to fight on their behalf on the

outside as well. They have five demands. I think anyone would say with any common sense that they're completely reasonable. So, for example, not to have censorship within the prison. They are constantly having letters, phone calls, visits, even legal visits and legal correspondence blocked, to get bail before they go on trial, to have the right to a fair trial without this political interference, to not be labelled as terrorists and to stop calling Palestine action a terrorist organization, which obviously doesn't meet the conditions for. And most importantly for them, and this is

directed at the general public around the world is to continue shutting down these arms factories like Elbit Systems or the various other companies that are still manufacturing and exporting arms to Israel to continue the genocide in Palestine. We know there's no ceasefire and the prisoners are going on hunger strike to remind everybody that it is their responsibility to take action to stop this in any way they can. This is the sister of Palestine Action Prisoner, 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed, speaking earlier this month. He is on day 39 of his hunger strike. He's had two hospitalizations since the start of his hunger strike, having only come out of his hospitalization last week.

Whilst they were able to stabilize his ketones, they are steeply on the rise again. But what is mostly concerning is that his heart is giving in and his pulse is slowing down. And at the moment, he's losing half a cagey every day. The Palestine Action Hunger Strike is now the largest coordinated hunger strike in UK prisons since the 1981 Irish Republican protests led by Bob Sands. I believe he was 27 years old when he died, along with, was it nine Irish Republican activists. During the time of his hunger strike in prison, he was elected to Parliament. Can you talk about the parallels? I think it's really important to emphasize that we would never and should never compare ourselves to the Irish Republican struggle. The prisoners,

and all of us take a lot of inspiration from them. And in fact, the solidarity that has been shared with us from all Irish people has been incredible throughout this campaign. And it's something that really gives the prisoner strength and helps them to keep going. I think the key difference here is that the prisoners, yes, of course, they're striking for justice for themselves, but more importantly, they're striking for the liberation of Palestinian people.

They've taken on that struggle. as their own. And for that reason, they don't want to centre themselves in this hunger strike. It's simply a vessel for people to continue talking about Palestine at this time when the press and politicians are trying to make everybody forget about it and trying to fool people into the idea that there's a sea fire. And it's obvious to all of us that that's absolutely false. So in that sense, it's not a comparison. I think the comparison that we can make is the amount of solidarity actions, the amount of mobilisation, the amount of people that are being moved to take action for Palestine, to take more

radical action for Palestine, to do direct action, which is something that people were perhaps a bit nervous around after the banning of Palestine action, people are now so fired up to do this again in a way that we haven't seen in a very long time. So, for example, we've had meetings where hundreds of people have signed up for direct action, and that's something that is a result, a direct result of the hunger strike, and is really amazing to see how inspiring the hunger strike is for people all over the place. As we begin to wrap up, Heba Miracy is one of the hunger strikers. It is said she can no longer form sentences,

is struggling to maintain a conversation, added via your group Personners for Palestine, that she feels weaker as each day passes. Four of the hunger strikers, including Ms. Marisi, are accused of playing roles in the break-in at the Israeli-linked Defense Technology Company Elbit Systems U.K., November 19th, 2024, expected to go on trial of May next year. Can you talk about her condition and the charges against her? So, of course, we are extremely worried about Hibber. She's suffering a lot as a result of this hunger strike. Almost two months without food is an incredibly long time.

So all we can do is continue fighting in every way possible to get these demands met and to end this hunger strike. safely. But that is, in the government's hands, they already have blood, you know, all over their hands as a result of Palestine, but now they have the choice whether to add to that or not by letting the hunger strikers die. So as for their charges, they've been accused, they've not been convicted. It's really important to say that Hibber doesn't even have any criminal convictions. And she's been in prison for over a year now and treated in the most despicable manner that you can imagine.

So anyone who's been on trial against Elbit Systems or other arms companies, as I was myself, we will always say that the trial is another arena for our battle. When we go to trial, we turn the tables and we put these arms companies in the dock. They are guilty of aiding and abetting a genocide. We will continue to accuse them of that and until they are prosecuted for their crimes, until the politicians are prosecuted for their crimes. This struggle won't end, whether it be a hunger strike, whether that be in the courts, whether that be on the streets, with thousands of people getting arrested for supporting Palestine action. People are not going to give up. Actually the opposite. Where there's more

repression, there's more resistance. And the significance of Greta Thunberg, known around the world as a climate activist and now an activist for Palestinian human rights getting arrested last week? I think it's just an indication of the incredible support from around the world that we have, whether that be from the UN, whether that be from other activists. We're constantly every single day getting messages from people from Tokyo to New Zealand and everywhere in between about the support that people. people are showing for the prisoners.

That's an incredible thing to see. And we will encourage all those people to continue supporting and take that one step further to apply that pressure to their governments and to the arms companies that are operating in their local areas. That's what we need to do. Shut all these places down to stop their manufacturing arms to murder innocent Palestinian people. Francesca Naden, I want to thank you for being with us, spokesperson for prisoners for Palestine,

supporting the Palestine action prisoners on hunger strike. Next up, as CBS cancels a 60-minute segment on U.S. deportations, we're going to talk about an HBO documentary premiering today called Critical Incident, death at the border. It looks at the alleged cover-up of the murder of an undocumented Mexican immigrant who died in custody at the border years ago. But under the watch of a man who is now one of the leaders of the Border Patrol, stay with us. Luchampus

of Tanta culpas never again by La Santa Cecilia in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman.

As CBS cancels a 60-minute segment on the Trump administration's deportations of hundreds of men. We turn now to a documentary premiering today on HBO and HBO Max called Critical Incident, death at the border. The film looks at the possible cover-up of the killing of Anastasio Hernandez-Rohas, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, fatally beaten by border agents. In 2010, he was crossing the southern border an attempt to return to San Diego, where he'd live for a quarter of a century to reunite with his wife and five kids after being deported. He was stopped by border agents who brutally beat and tased him while he was handcuffed until Rojas died of heart failure.

His death later ruled a homicide. Rojas's death occurred under the watch of a man who is now the head of Customs and Border Protection under Trump, Rodney Scott. At the time of Anastasio's killing. Scott was deputy chief of the San Diego sector of the border control. This is the trailer for critical incident. I heard a blood-curling scream. Oh, my God. In 2010, Anastasio Hernandez died after being shocked with a stun gun. When Anastasia was killed, I knew that I had to look into this. My entire career as a journalist has been reporting on the border. There was no crime scene investigation. So we did not have a clear picture of everything that occurred there.

All of these agents, the way that they're lined up, are to block the view. It's very hard to come forward to expose the truth. But when you see things like Anastasio, it raises a lot of questions that you can't ignore. This is a case about impunity at the border. They are tampering with evidence. We're doing a story on Anastacio Hernandez. He was an illegal immigrant and officers were trying to take back to Mexico, but at the border, something went wrong. They took lives and they took hope.

And that cannot stand. In critical incident, a whistleblower describes how the Border Patrol's so-called critical incident teams, CITs, conduct off-the-off. the book's investigations when federal border agents are involved in in-custody deaths, but to evade accountability. In this film clip, we hear from the lawyer representing Anastasio Hernandez-Rohasse's family, Jean Ardell, who sued to demand justice in the courts. I understood that with a civil case like this against the border patrol, it's like killing the king you want to make sure

that you don't miss we knew this may be difficult but we also knew from the very beginning that there was something more than this case because the Border Patrol

was requested to turn over certain evidence and information and in certain critical aspects, they failed to do so. Earlier this year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found customs and border protection agents who fatally beat Rojas are responsible for torture and called for the investigation and to his death to be reopened. Rojas's case also drew attention from investigative journalists like Juan Carlos Frey, who is also featured in critical incident.

I've been a reporter for a long time. And my entire career as a journalist has been reporting on the Border Patrol. So when Anastasia was killed, I knew that I had to look into this. And I started calling whoever was responsible, Border Patrol, San Diego Police Department, and there was really very little information. But there was. were eyewitnesses. Reporting by John Carlos Frey and others prompted congressional investigations that led Customs and Board of Protection to disband the CITs, the critical incident teams in

2022. Ahead of critical incidents premiere tonight on HBO, we're joined by its director, Rick Raleigh, an Academy Award nominated three-time Emmy-winning director. Rick, welcome back to Democracy Now. Explain what happened. So, years ago, almost 15 years ago, and why this matters today. If you can talk about Rodney Scott, who he was then and who he is today. It sounds like Rick Rowley has just lost the connection. He's joining us from Athens, Greece. Rick Rowley is the Academy Award nominated three-time Emmy-winning director of the new HBO documentary film, Critical Incident. We're going to see if we can play another clip right now from the documentary being aired tonight, Critical Incident.

I think it was around noon. We had heard something from the news about an incustody death at the border from the night before. somebody was on life support of Mr. Anastacio Hernandez. Normally, in a regular homicide investigation, usually there's a briefing that occurs right after the event. Once they know that the death has occurred or death is imminent, then the homicide unit will come out. But in this case, the Border Patrol didn't tell us about it. That's Ron Newquist, who is a San Diego police detective. Rick Rowley, thanks so much for being with us.

We only have a few minutes. So first describe what happened to Anastasio so many years ago, 15 years ago. And then what Rodney Scott, a man you interviewed, had to do with it then and who he is today. Thanks a lot, Amy. It's great to be with you. You know, I mean, at this moment when mass Border Patrol agents are in the streets and cities across America, we know so little about this secretive and powerful organization. So this film uses a deep-dive investigation of this single killing, the killing of Anastasio,

as a way to sort of pull back the veil on the impunity and violence at the heart of the patrol. So Anastasio was beaten to death in public. The International Court on Human Rights has already determined his death to have been the result of torture and that there was a cover-up afterwards of those crimes. and that was all presided over by Rodney Scott, the man who Trump chose to lead the entire CBP. You know, this, in the 100-year history of the patrol, hundreds and almost certainly thousands of people have been killed by the patrol, and not a single agent has ever been successfully prosecuted for an on-duty killing. James Tomchick, the former head of internal affairs for the Border Patrol, who we interview in the film,

estimated that there was a 10% level of active corruption inside the patrol. Ron Hosko, former executive director of the FBI, heard estimates as high as 20% of the patrol were actively corrupt. I mean, those kinds of numbers and that kind of violence indicate an agency that is in crisis. I mean, this is like the NYPD before Serpico. It's like the LAPD before Rodney King. This is a law enforcement agency whose day of reckoning is long overdue. Trump has taken someone implicated in one of its most obvious and clear crimes and put him in charge of the entire CBP.

Your reporting on this is incredible and also following John Carlos Frey and how it took years to get the video that showed what happened to Anastasio. But if you could tell us exactly what happened, the people screaming what the border agent said actually, happened, that he was hitting his own head against the road, against the cement, and that they were trying to save him. Yes, it is, I mean, in one of the most chilling kind of moments of the film, we have the depositions that the agents and officers who were on the scene gave for the civil trial in which they, this is before the video had been released before, you know, we had an actual image of what happened in which they described this completely impossible situation where

Anastasia was rolling on the ground like a crocodile, that he was banging his own head on the ground, and that they were trying to save him and help him before his heart stopped beating because they were tasing and beating him to death. What really happened was Anastasia was tortured and beaten to death in public at one of the most, one of the busiest border crossings in the world where hundreds of people were on a pedestrian bridge at that time of night, directly looking down at what was happening there. And those problems with the investigation begin while Anastasia was still alive. Border Patrol agents were deleting cell phone video that people were taking.

They were destroying evidence of the crimes. They were intimidating and dispersing witnesses. They did not preserve the crime scene at all. To the contrary, they got rid of witnesses and didn't take down their contact information. So it was when the police showed up, they couldn't, it was very difficult for them to reconstruct what happened. The Border Patrol, Ron Nuquist, told us, didn't even inform them of the incident. They were called by a local TV reporter, and that was how they discovered what happened and began their investigation. Then they failed to produce evidence.

There were multiple security cameras there that they failed. to provide surveillance video for, and then ultimately said it didn't exist or it had been destroyed. And, you know, it just all the way through this process, there was obstruction. Oh, James Tomcheck, in one of the most damning statements in the film, says that he was specifically ordered by the deputy chief of the Border Patrol to falsify reports about the killing of Anastasio. So this really, it was a killing and a cover-up that went absolutely. to the top of the organization. It implicated the entire chain of command.

And can you tell us again the role of Rodney Scott, Border Patrol Chief during the Obama administration, now the VP Commissioner under Trump, what he said to you about Anastasio's death? Yeah, so we have a long interview with Rodney Scott that's woven through the film. So he was deputy chief of San Diego Sector during the entire Anastasio, during Anastas killing and the beginnings of the cover-up. His signature is on some of the, on a subpoena that was filed by the Border Patrol to take Anastasio's medical records before they could be given to the police department. He also, you know, one of the things that are reporting an investigation around this film revealed was the existence of these critical incident teams. these off the books investigative teams that report directly to outside of the normal chain of command report directly to sector leadership which would have been at that time Rodney Scott

among others. So he knew about this case and he has the details of the case fresh in his mind when we talked to him many, many years later in this film and he says he says he denies many things and he can test many things, but, you know, he's on camera kind of, you know, talking about this and being forced to address this, I think, you know, maybe for the first time. Rick Rowley, I want to thank you for being with us. This is a very important documentary. Rick is director of the new HBO documentary premiering tonight. It's called Critical Incident.

And you can see all our interviews on the killing of Anastasio over the years, including with his wife and an eyewitness at Democracy Now.org. That does it for our show. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.